Gubbio: A Hilltop Charmer in Umbria

You’ll often hear Italy travel writers talk about Tuscany‘s delightful “hilltop towns,” many of which are small enough and out-of-the-way enough that visitors can still feel like they’ve discovered something no other traveler knows about. What tends to be forgotten, however, is that there are delightful hilltop towns all over Italy – including in neighboring Umbria, which has many of the same landscapes we’ve come to love in Tuscany. One Umbrian hilltop town worth visiting is Gubbio – and because access to Gubbio is more limited than some other towns, you really are likely to find it far less crowded.

Gubbio is the northeast of Umbria, and rather than being a true hilltop town (in that it towers over everything around it), this medieval walled city is actually on the slopes of a mountain in the Apennine range.